Adventures on the High Teas: In search of Middle England by Stuart Maconie

Original title: Adventures on the High Teas: In search of Middle England
Year Published: 2010
Published by: Ebury Press
Number of pages: 343
First Sentence: "Imagine that you are a very particular kind of Englishman or woman."
Goodreads rating: 3/5

Plot:
Everyone talks about 'Middle England'. Sometimes they mean something bad. like a lynch mob of tabloid readers, and sometimes they mean something good, like a pint of ale in a sleepy Cotswold village. But just where and what is Middle England? Stuart Maconie didn't know either, so he picked his Thermos and sandwiches and set off to find out...

My thoughts:
This is a travelouge, which means that it is not a work of fiction. It is still a good book. Maconie writes with humour and manages to create interests for the little villages he visits and the people he meets. Maconie takes you on a journey of what makes the English so very English. There is a lot of recognition, many of the stereotypes of Middle England are most certainly in the book. However, Maconie paints a picture of a people who are kind, tolerant and most of all proud of who they are. It is an almost touching story, and even though I'm not English myself, I felt a slight pride of this nation and it's people. Well played Maconie, well played.

Do I recommend it:
I have to be honest and say that I probably wouldn't. I had to read this book for Uni, which meant that I never had a personal interest in reading it. However, it is still a quite a good book. I did find several of the chapters intersting and fun to read, but I always had this nagging voice telling me that I had to read the book. It quelled the interest extremely well. If you are intersted in England overall then yes, go ahead and read this book. If you don't care about England at all, then please, buy another book.